•Coaches: MSU — Tom Izzo is 495-198 in his 20th season, all with the Spartans. Duke — Mike Krzyzewski is 1,016-316 in his 40th seasons, including 943-251 in 35 seasons at Duke.

•Series: Duke leads the series 9-2 all-time, including 8-1 in the Tom Izzo coaching era. MSU's two wins came in 1958 and the 2005 Sweet 16. MSU lost to Duke earlier this year, 81-71, and two years ago in the regional semifinals. Both of those games were also in Indianapolis.

MSU

Pos.

Name

PPG

C (34)

Gavin Schilling (6-9)

5.2

F (22)

Branden Dawson (6-6)

11.9

G (45)

Denzel Valentine (6-5)

14.3

G (20)

Travis Trice (6-0)

15.3

G (11)

Tum Tum Nairn (5-10)

2.2

Duke

Pos.

Name

PPG

C (15)

Jahlil Okafor (6-11)

17.5

F (12)

Justise Winslow (6-6)

12.5

F (13)

Matt Jones (6-5)

6.1

G (2)

Quinn Cook (6-2)

15.5

G (2)

Tyus Jones (6-1)

11.6

•MSU update: The Spartans are where almost no one imagined they'd be — playing on the last weekend of the college basketball season. They took out the No. 2, 3 and 4 seeds in the East Region to get to Indianapolis. As Tom Izzo said Friday, "We've earned our right to be here." Senior guard Travis Trice has put together a memorable NCAA tournament, averaging 19.8 points in MSU's four games. Denzel Valentine, Branden Dawson and Bryn Forbes have also been mostly superb during this run, as has the Spartans' collective defense. MSU has held its four opponents to less than 34 percent shooting and 24 percent from beyond the arc. This is MSU's seventh Final Four under Izzo, with the Spartans 2-4 in previous national semifinals.

•Duke update: The Blue Devils are led by three McDonald's All-American freshmen, center Jahlil Okafor, forward Justise Winslow and guard Tyus Jones, and a motivated senior guard, Quinn Cook. Duke's championship hopes took off beginning with a furious rally to win at second-ranked Virginia on Jan. 31. The Blue Devils have lost once since, to Notre Dame in the ACC tournament, winning 16 of 17 games entering the Final Four. Duke ranks third in the country in field goal percentage (.502) and shoots nearly 40 percent from 3-point range. This is the Blue Devils' 12th Final Four under coach Mike Krzyzewski, winning four national championships — the last Final Four and title coming in 2010 in Indianapolis.

•Backcourts: Trice and Valentine have been special on this ride. Cook and Jones are a dynamic backcourt, though Jones hasn't shot well in the NCAA tournament. MSU's defense on Jones is critical, be it Tum Tum Nairn pestering him with quickness or Valentine with length. Jones is a do-it-all guard — when he's shooting well — who can create for himself and teammates. Cook can also penetrate and shoot, and is on a course similar to Trice these last two weeks. Matt Jones doesn't create his own offense and could be Trice's assignment, even though he's a bigger athlete. Otherwise, Jones falls to Valentine and he'll be the one MSU player who can play help defense. Edge: Even

•Frontcourts: When Duke moved Winslow to power forward it made the Blue Devils smaller but more difficult to defend. Winslow is having an outstanding NCAA tournament, hitting 7 of 12 3s and averaging 14 points and 9.5 rebounds. He'll be Dawson's responsibility and vice versa, a terrific matchup. The key here, though, is how Gavin Schilling and Matt Costello handle Okafor. Okafor made offense look too easy in their November matchup and was the player that most separated the two teams. Edge: Duke

•Benches: MSU's bench is a significant reason it's still alive — the Spartans had better depth than Louisville and Oklahoma. Same goes for their Final Four matchup. Beyond 6-9 forward Amile Jefferson, who averages 6.4 points and 5.7 rebounds, the Blue Devils have almost nothing in reserve. Forbes is the postseason star of MSU's bench thus far, averaging 9.5 points and hitting 9 of 17 3s through four games. Edge: MSU

•Prediction: Thinking this MSU team can't do something at this point is silly. But there are several elements working against the Spartans. First, the fierce internal drive they had to get here has been fulfilled. The Spartans are enjoying this weekend, as they should. But can they again find that intense focus and motivation they've possessed the last three weekends? Mostly, though, Duke has better players than anyone MSU has faced yet in this tournament, and more of them. It's been an awesome run, worth celebrating, worthy of another banner at Breslin.